


Level 5

by FionasEmbrace



Category: Dead Space
Genre: Canon PTSD, M/M, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-07
Updated: 2013-09-07
Packaged: 2017-12-25 21:33:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/957832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FionasEmbrace/pseuds/FionasEmbrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Norton sent John Carver, and the unwilling Isaac Clarke on a suicide mission to the hostile planet Tau Volantis. As their ship crash-lands on the surface, they must find some way to survival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [Level 5](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3161570) by [BER2026444](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BER2026444/pseuds/BER2026444), [FionasEmbrace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FionasEmbrace/pseuds/FionasEmbrace)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the crash landing, Isaac and Carver face a difficult Necromorph encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter (only) is Gen.

The hours melted together, traversing an endless path in the snow. After their ship lost control and crash-landed on the planet's surface, it was utterly destroyed and unsalvageable, leaving Isaac Clarke and his new companion low on options. He knew exactly why he was here. Norton had enough connections with EarthGov to dig up background information on Isaac, seek him out personally, and then force him and Sgt John Carver, an officer of the EDF, together on this suicide mission on Volantis. It was a shame. Isaac was just getting comfortable returning to a life of somewhat-normalcy back on the Lunar colony. 

He didn't want much to do with any of this now, and frankly, Carver left a bad impression on him. He had this chip on his shoulder. In his best estimation, it was some awful prior trauma with Necromorphs which he would not disclose. Isaac could guess it had something to do with his wife or family. In any case he seemed like kind of a dick. Carver did not take too warmly to Isaac either. 

These things aside, things had taken a turn for the worse. They were cut off from CMS Roanoke and all other possible opportunities for rescue from Volantis. All COM lines on the ship were blown during the crash, and the escape pods were inoperable. Isaac felt so helpless now. Because he *knew* the mission was a bad idea, but had no choice in the matter. There were so many things that could go wrong, and no real escape plan. If anything, he regretted not finding some way to escape Norton and Carver. The lonely planet was frozen and desolate; if they were to wander in search of help, they would be wandering forever. Their best bet was to find somewhere that still had electricity, and seek refuge there until one of them- probably Isaac- could come up with a plan. 

Horizontal snow. The winds on Tau Volantis were bitter and awful, unlike anything he had seen on other planets; it was clear why this place was inhabited by no one. Even with the aid of his RIG, thankfully not destroyed in the crash, Isaac felt the full force of the wind impeding him. Carver was better trained for these types of conditions, but it wore on him all the same. They spoke to one another very little, since it seemed to expend more of their already-scarce energy, and had been wandering for a considerable amount of time. The snowfall poured down harder. It was difficult not to get separated in the storm. The two were able to keep close enough together, combined with the functionality of their RIGs' COMs over the short distance. At first, they optimistically hoped for signs of other survivors, but now they scavenged for whatever source of warmth or electricity they could find. This came in the form of an old, abandoned research bay, that by some miracle still had power. 

Broken-down and desolate, Isaac knew the facility was haunted. Well, was anything trustworthy anymore? Anywhere they turned, he expected some new, horrifying creatures to break the silence. Isaac did not want to fully come to terms with how dangerous this space was; there was some respite in believing that the Necromorph infestation was really over after having destroyed one of the Markers those few years ago. 

The door to the facility was completely rusted over. Isaac tried at the handle, but it was no use. Despite the fact that it had power, the space looked unused for some several years, and the door had fused shut through constant force of the weather. Isaac looked at Carver. There's no facial expression discernible through a RIG helmet, of course, but the look seemed to convey something- he was considering whether it would be better to shoot it down, or try to bypass the lock mechanism. Carver kicked open the door. They entered the facility through a descending walkway. There were some sparks flying from a couple eternally short-circuiting wires, dimly illuminating the place. There was the faint hum of a tucked-away generator down below. 

Neither of them were particularly reassured of safety here, but at least they were out of the cold. The facility was a fairly standard layout familiar to other stations at which Isaac had worked. He found an antiquated box of switches for the environmental controls, and set the temperature to something reasonable. Thank god. He collapsed down, exhausted, against a wall, disengaging his helmet. Carver did the same. 

"This is it. We made it." 

"I'm waiting for the feeling to come back to my hands... Holy fuck, this place." Carver hadn't had the chance, until now, to really be incredulous at what happened. After the crash landing that was it, time to clamor for survival in the tundra.

"Do you think we're gonna ever get out of here? You know what I mean. Leave this planet." It was early to be speculating about these things, but Isaac didn't want to dance around the subject. 

"I don't know," Carver said. It certainly looked bleak.

"Or, die here."

"Let's not even entertain that subject, okay?"

"I'm serious."

"So am I. We just gotta survive. We'll find a way somehow."

Isaac just stared into space, his voice full of regret. "I wonder, if they could have found Ellie, this could have all been prevented. This whole mission. She could have given Norton the information he wanted. She had access to the secret to the Marker code, and how to destroy them. But, they targeted me."

"Mmm-hm." Carver said, cleaning the snow out of his suit.

"And I think I know why. For three years, I was locked up on Titan Station for an EarthGov project." Even thinking back to these details make Isaac feel like there was a pit in is his throat. These were old, painful memories. "It was called 'Telomere'. 

"Telomere?"

"They fucked with me, implanted on my mind..." He could spare the gory details. Carver didn't need to hear that stuff. "They implanted the instructions on how to decode the markers. The instructions are nothing by themselves, though- they need to be decrypted to produce the full code. With any luck she could have been able to tell us how to decrypt them, and destroy them all for good."

"Hmm."

"If only we had found her. Or if they could have gotten her, before us."

"Now, wait. If all they needed help decrypting the codes, they could have just used our ship administrator. You met Santos before. She understands more of that stuff than your girlfriend or anyone else does." It was true; Santos was already on Norton's side; finding Ellie wouldn't have changed anything in terms of accessing the codes. But, Isaac was unable to shake certain things from his mind. "Let's get real, here. The lamenting, it's not about the predicament we're in, it's about your love life."

"No, it isn't." Isaac snapped back automatically. He wanted to formulate some kind of better argument, but this just wasn't the time. Anyway, this was no hill worth dying on. 

"Is your girlfriend a mind implant you got from Telomere, too? That would explain your priorities right now."

"Is your wife a lawn mower? That would explain your face." 

"Well, she's dead." Carver's tone was flat, final, and cold. It was hard to tell what would push Carver's buttons - probably everything - Isaac was treading on thin ice.

"Oh... Sorry." 

He sighed. "Don't be. I've heard all the condolences I need from my friends, and you aren't one of them. In any case, this isn't the time." Carver shook out the rest of the snow and fixed his suit. "How about we rest up, here. Later on, we can go out a little further, and see if we can find a ship, or the remainders of one. And you don't need to keep going on about how we're going to die here. It's fucking depressing as shit."

"But, it's true. This place is a tomb." Carver said nothing. "I can't help but miss the way things were, even when it sucked, big time. Hiding in the Lunar colony. The constant Earthgov propaganda. Fuck, I even miss my shithole of an apartment."

"We'll find a way out of this. Let's stay positive." Carver was having trouble taking his own advice, though.

"You don't know how shitty that apartment was."

He laughed. "Yeah, I do. And yes, that place was a shithole. Remember?"

It all came back to Isaac. That day, in the middle of pining over old photos, when Robert Norton and Carver barged in his apartment as if he was under arrest. No, they were soliciting him to go on a suicide mission for them. That was a memorable day. "Oh yeah, when you broke down my door and pointed a loaded gun at my head."

"That's the one!"

"Now that we're talking about that... I have to ask. Uh, the part where you knocked me down on all fours. Was all that really necessary?" 

"...Yes and no." Carver seemed- almost a bit embarrassed? Almost. "Officially, protocol is that you're a potential threat because of your prior Marker exposure, and past lack of co-operation with EarthGov. As for whether that threat was real or not, well..."

"I knew it." Isaac wanted to just say, 'why do you need to act like a dick?' but it wouldn't have helped anything.

"It was probably not necessary." Carver admitted, but wasn't one to apologize for complying with orders. "So, if it matters so much, what would you be doing if you got out of here?" He genuinely wanted to know.

"Dunno." He shrugged. For something he so desperately wanted, he hadn't actually thought about it that far ahead. "Probably go back to my old job at the CEC, and-" 

A huge noise. A crash. "What the...?" 

So, they were not alone.

There was enough force to sound like an explosion had gone off, as the writhing beast crashed up through the floor. Yes, Necromorphs could sense life. No doubt this one had lain dormant all this time, feeding off the facility's energy source in wait of new organic matter to sustain it. The collapsing iron and ruined steel tresses comprising the building's foundation gave way easily for the creature's gigantic, fast-moving limbs. While neither could get a good look at it, it was certainly several arm-spans long, bigger than most of the Necromorphs that resulted from the infection of humans. It clamored up through the floor in search of the two. 

Fortunately, while it was big and fast-moving, it did not have accurate senses. The monster would blindly hurl itself in the direction of Isaac or Carver. It was simple enough to avoid, and was already being confused at the presence of two people rather than one. But there wasn't even time to speak, or scream. Isaac and Carver engaged their RIG helmets and weaponry. There was never any time to relax.

Isaac fired the first shot, and saw that it made the awful creature split apart. And then he saw- 'it' was not a singular. It was a *swarm*. They stayed closely-knit together, moving somewhat synchronized, but each small part of it had its own abdomen, its own tiny free-moving legs. 

Abruptly the swarm split apart and attacked Isaac and Carver from all sides. Carver rapid-fired any that he could see. Isaac used a bayonet-like weapon to impale some of the nearby ones, and detonated an explosion nearby to take care of the others. A larger creature in the horde, however, latched onto Isaac. It had an arachnid-like body with sharp pedipalps and long antennae. He reacted as fast as possible, but this one was much stronger than the others. It bore into his leg. There was hardly any time to react. Isaac induced stasis on the parasite and point-blank shot it down.

"Isaac?" The engineer collapsed to the floor. The world all around was warped and nauseating, collapsing into a dizzying patchwork of colors. But, he continued to shoot the vermin down. Carver stood right next to him, so to protect him, and killed the others. Before long the swarm was wiped out. Fortunately, they had each fought worse than this. And by a stroke of good luck, the generator and habitat controls of facility were undamaged in the attack. Now that it was safe, Carver knelt down to examine Isaac, who was clearly incapacitated.

The Necromorph did a number on Isaac. It cut through flesh and muscle cleanly, and left a large, rectangular gash on his leg. He was so lucky not to have lost the leg entirely. But God, this looked awful. Carver lifted the other man's full weight in his arms and set him down on the ground. He grabbed the other man's shoulders and shouted, "Clarke!", but Isaac was dizzy and inarticulate, saying only some incoherent things, staring blankly at the ceiling. He was losing blood fast, which poured out openly and pooled all around the floor where he lay. Carver panicked- an unusual occurrence for him; he wasn't really trained for this. Shit, shit, shit. Back in the military academy, everyone was required to take practical first aid, to treat accidents on the battlefield, particularly their own injuries. But this was really only to buy time until someone more qualified could help. Clarke was losing blood quickly and there wasn't much time. If something was not done, Isaac would bleed out and die.

For Clarke, the word disappeared in and out of focus, lost in a dizzy haze. Carver shouted at him, and tried to shake him awake. Isaac only mumbled something unintelligible, his eyes fluttered shut and more blood came out of his mouth. It didn't matter if they were friends, or whatever it was they were, he needed Isaac to be alive, end of discussion. As much as Carver would never admit it, he could not survive this place by himself. And what's more, he had let down someone once, and there was no way in hell he would do it again.

Carver knelt over him, careful not to agitate the injuries any further, and checked for a pulse. Still alive, some breathing. Now he was out cold. He cursed bitterly. There was a first-aid set on the wall; he quickly ripped off the whole thing off its brackets and set it down beside Clarke. There weren't too many options. He could try and bandage the wound, but it wouldn't be enough to stop the bleeding in time. The whole section of flesh was missing. 'Fuck, this is disgusting' he muttered, looking at the injury. He took the thickest of the bandages and wrapped it around the injury. It was no use and the blood seeped through immediately. There was very real danger of him bleeding out at this rate. 

But, it was worse than that. 

He looked more closely at the injury and saw something. It wasn't only an excision of flesh, like he thought. There was something else. The alien had fused some of itself onto the wound; its own flesh, yellow and infected, there it was. Sweet jesus. The infected section absolutely had to be removed before it was too late- this was a Necromorph, trying to replicate itself- but it would risk worsening the bleeding. What to do. Fuck. 

So, what was there- some anti-pain medication, some surgical tools. Some disinfectant. Someone here. No. Footsteps. He picked up the metal scoring tool, neatly organized in the set, and sterilized it. The smell of burnt plastic. He tried to remember where he was. The whole room collapsed together in an avalanche of blood and space and things that he didn't know anymore. But it didn't matter since the way out was closed off; a storm of guts, of limbs and nerves. The key. A fuzzy haze became the vastness of a battleground all around, bound to Earth and convolving into smoldering plastic and on him was that same red suit, like always, becoming of a soldier. He went through a gauntlet of bright green army men, of little and big animals, of robots. He cut them down, piece by piece, until there was no more. The phantoms here, no, the ground itself piled into the distance and was made of flesh. His own flesh which was a part of it. He sliced down the ground, tearing up earth and gushing water and rocks cleanly and stopped at nothing. He put it down. There were the suturing implements, too. The evil couldn't touch him here. 

But wait, the key. It's there. The sky imploded in a flash of colors. He would save her. Damara, I'll get the key and I'll save you. Wait for me. Up, forever, a spiral staircase in a castle made of colorful bricks. There wasn't much time. After this, there was no one to wind him up again. Right there in his hand, it was the same one- the key to open the door- it materialized. This isn't make-believe, son. The key was sharp and unwieldy. He would make it, if stitches held it together. The princess was there, laying on the ground. Oh God, Damara. Why won't you wake up? Then he used the key to unlock the door and flinging it open, so much brilliant light shone through, seeping down her mouth and falling out of the ears and into every corner of his body and every crack in the floor and melt the light all over the stitches. It's just like I promised. Take my hand. Why won't you wake up? The storm came crashing down like a freight train smothering them both.

Isaac awoke, groggy, unaware of the long passage of time since his last altercation with the Necromorphs. He had lost a lot of blood. Still very dizzy and lightheaded, he felt like he may be under the influence of a sedative. There was a large canister of clean drinking water next to him. There was a dull pain in his leg. It wasn't so debilitating as before, but it was a dull, loud soreness. He looked down, and the space between his left knee and thigh was tightly bandaged. For the most part, everything looked intact and he had some mobility. Carver must have taken care of his wounds- he was lucky this time. And he didn't think he could depend on that man for anything. Curiosity got the better of Isaac. Wanting to see just how bad the injury was, he sat up and peeked under the bandage. There was a large, scabbed portion that fused partially to the bandage, so it was difficult to see without agitating the injury more. Really he should leave it alone but it was hard to resist. In any case, there were a lot of stitches. But besides that, there was a rectangular section of skin that was a slightly different color from his own. The section was stitched messily there. It looked odd, and was not what he was expecting. Absentmindedly he touched it, feeling the bumpiness of the stitches. 

And he looked back at Carver, who was washing his hands and some tools in the sink. There was a bandage on his leg, as well. And it was in almost the same place, a rectangular section on his left leg, but it was smaller than his original injury. It was bound up tight but he could see spots where the blood seeped through. There was evidently not enough bandage to go around. 

Wait.

What. The. Fuck. The stitched section on his own leg- this wasn't a badly-healed wound or an infection. It was.. This can't be real. It just can't. Isaac put two and two together, a bit more slowly than normal now, and he tried to reconcile what happened against the sheer impossibility of it. The graft was done to him, while he was unconscious, saving his leg. From the sheer gruesomeness of it he nearly vomited. Unreal. He didn't understand how it was even possible. Grafted flesh. No, it can't be. Isaac stared at the wall blankly, then managed, "What happened?"

"Your leg was almost torn clean off, is what happened. Never seen anything like that." He paused, thinking for a moment. Maybe it wasn't entirely true, what with all his time on the front lines. He clarified, "Not from an alien, anyway."

"My leg is all fucked. What am I supposed to do now?" 

"It should be back to normal in a few weeks. Six weeks tops. Seriously, you're lucky to have it at all, so no bitching. Can you move it?"

"Sort of..." Isaac tried to leverage himself against an end table and pull himself upright. It was a lengthy struggle. He was able to stand, but not put any weight on his bad leg. Supporting himself on the end table, he was hoping to get right to the point. "So what happened to *your* leg?"

Carver was dismissive. "Oh, this? Doesn't matter..." He was not a natural liar, but just was not in the mood for long, or crazy- as this case may be- explanations.

"No. Tell me."

"Look, I'll explain later. You're doped up on painkillers now. You should sit the fuck down before you make things worse."

"No, now. This... this is your..." Isaac indicated the site on his leg. He was not good with words right now.

"Don't gotta do this now... " He stammered a bit, then quickly mulled over whether he should just come out with it or not. "Just.. Fine, so you know what happened." It wasn't actually that he wanted to keep it a secret, it was just that he hated these types of conversations and avoided them whenever possible. Either Isaac will be really grateful and the conversation will turn far too emotionally-charged for his tastes, or he will resent the fact that Carver couldn't offer any better or safer treatment. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"I'm not getting on your case about it. I don't even know what to say. Whatever this is, it's unconventional, but it saved my leg. I mean, shit, my whole life no one else would ever do this for me. In fact I'm having trouble even believing it. If anything, I owe you my life." It was true.

"*Please*, save the-" Carver was prone to get impatient with any conversation that took a turn for sappy.

"Carver." He interrupted him sharply and put his hand on Carver's shoulder. The hand was a bit cold and shaky still. It was an odd moment, there had never really been a friendly gesture between them so far. It was very unusual for either of them to get any human interaction in a place like this, and most of the conversation between them was tense and unfriendly. In any case, Isaac wanted to articulate how Carver saved his life, and so forth, but it would be a lost cause. He could use all the flowery words in the world, there was really no point, it would be just lost on him. Instead, he simply said, "Thanks." He looked directly into his dark eyes almost studying them. That was enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carver's old memories and present predicament meet head-on, caught between a hallucination and a bad dream.

The shelter offered protection for Isaac and Carver from the outside weather. Some time had passed since they uncovered the swarm, and they stayed there. It was part of a larger, mostly-underground complex, where an experiment gone wrong had left some dozens of researchers dead in its lower corners. In time, Isaac and Carver combed through all of it, even the basement chambers. Sure enough, some of the corpses were re-animated into Necromorphs, and one by one they picked them off. 

As it turned out, the facility had everything they needed to stay alive for the time being. The researchers who were stationed there long ago used it as a dwelling, and left many of their belongings behind. The generator was solar-powered, and, while it was antiquated technology, it was enough to power the whole facility and keep the bitter weather out. 

It still would be some time before they were ready to venture back out into the snow. Out there, they didn't know how far into the wilderness they would need to go, or for how long, and whether they would have to scale the cliffs or mountains. There was also the need for them to survive independently if they got separated. Isaac's leg was still bandaged up, but he would take a look at it every so often, and saw that it was healing. Pretty unbelievable. Parts of it scabbed over and the patch of skin started to heal into his own. He kept it bandaged up and clean. Isaac wasn't back to full form yet, but was able to walk, get his RIG on and off, and operate a weapon. Carver was able to pick up the slack for him, and help stand him up when he lost his footing. 

The main problem was not knowing how long they would be here. They were sitting ducks until Isaac's leg was healed, and they would be ready to go back out in search of the others. There was little here of interest. Some old propaganda posters, outdated computer parts with games that didn't run anymore, since there was no network connectivity. In the basement they found only some old scientific records, lab materials, garbage. They didn't have much to do but keep each other company. What started as an uneasy friendship became... yeah, who was he kidding, they would never be "friends". In the scheme of things, it didn't matter.

They had a sleeping arrangement comprised of some mattresses on the floor, old blankets and pillows salvaged from storage. The slept in the same room. If one of them heard something crawing through the walls, they could quickly alert the other. There were no safe spaces.

Carver closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The dark melted into a huge array of colors. Maybe, he was hallucinating? Or, maybe it was the same dream as always. He didn't want to think about Marker Shroud 4 anymore. Sometimes, even when he was awake, he would see Damara, their child, the monsters they turned into, people from his past, things he didn't want to be reminded of. The sad truth was, he never fully moved on. He tried his damnedest to just tune it all out. Yes, back when he was fixing Isaac's leg, it happened again. He watched reality fizzle away and then what do you know, he was in some other world. Everything he did, he did automatically, as if he wasn't even really there at all. 

Now, he saw it again. The horrible weave of red and pink, the beckoning of familiar voices, the hoarde of monsters climbing over him. There was no escape until he could snap out of it or wake up. He clamored away from them in and endless pursuit, through a cluttered landscape of old tokens from earlier in his life. The space went on forever. He came upon a structure that looked like the dining room of his old house. There was the ornate glass light fixture, a tablecloth with a floral print, everything seemed so familiar. It was exactly like how he remembered. 

Except, the walls slowly smouldered, flaking away in the forcefield wind. 

In the corner of the room, there was a heaving black mass. It was like the other shades he saw here, but more shapeless and it moved less. He walked toward it. Black ribbons spun around a pulsating shadow. There was something underneath. With his hands he pulled apart the black shell, piece by piece. All kinds of water leaked out. He could see a shape underneath. Excavating the last layer, he could make out the illuminated parts of an engineering sector RIG. No... The RIG moved; there was someone inside of it. 

No. It was Isaac.

He wanted to ask, 'What are you doing here?', to tell him that it wasn't safe, that he needed to escape now, but the words wouldn't come out. Isaac was fully outfitted in his RIG, but parts of it were blasted away and heavily damaged. Carver, on the other hand, was unarmed, like he always was in this dream. Isaac said nothing either, but clamored to the floor gasping for air. Carver caught him in his arms and, sensing there was something wrong, disengaged the other man's helmet. The black bugs crawling all over his face dispersed, allowing him to breathe again. Everything was still a blur, but Isaac had some small cuts across his lips that bled, and he coughed up blood. As Isaac was recovered consciousness, Carver wiped away the other man's blood with his sleeve. Maybe he could bring him to safety. Yeah, maybe they could escape this prison together. But, there was a creeping feeling on the soldier's back. Then Carver looked behind and saw it.

The horrible shade. He even saw its leer- its face. An enormous, black, insectlike demon positioned itself behind him. His vision was drowsy and blurred and it was hard to make sense of anything, for all he knew it was one enormous writhing shadow. It was too much. In his mind, now not only was he doomed, but so was Isaac, his companion, just a bystander here. He knew what normally happened next: the shadow would tear him to bits. Why didn't it hurt? Here there was nothing material, no conciousness- not that any of this was real, anyway. Trapped in a limbo of awakeness and sleep, the hallucinations always played out the same- with him falling victim to this *thing*. What could this be except a new incarnation of it. 

As he knelt down, before he had time to react, the shadow pushed him forward on top of Isaac. Carver felt the black tendrils wrapping around them, holding their bodies flush with him on top of the suited, wounded man, blood showing through his broken RIG in a couple places. The wind kept going all around but they were held in place, trapped under the shade. Isaac had this blank stare. He almost didn't look like himself. His blue eyes looked glassy and glazed over. His gloved hands held Carver's shoulders though. 

Isaac remained still but was obviously awake and aware of his surroundings. The air here was so hot and dense. They were pushed so close together, Carver could feel the sharpness of Isaac's stubble on his face. He even felt the other man's warmth and breath. It felt comforting, somehow- almost enough to forget about all this. Almost enough to forget about the looming demon right back there. The real thing he didn't understand, was 'Why was this happening'. Isaac didn't belong here. This was a place for Carver's old memories and ghosts. 

The shadow pulled them ever closer together, stitching itself in the front of Carver's clothes plus Isaac's RIG, then pulling away and tearing them. Carver couldn't understand why it hadn't simply annihilated them both straight away. Usually the nightmare stopped by now, or moved him into someplace new. The demon simply hovered over them. The cold grip on the back of his neck then moved downward. It guided itself down his stomach, creeply darting underneath his shirt into his navel, then started gently touching his dick through his pants. Fuck. This was the most fucked up thing ever. He couldn't bring himself to push it away. The engineer still had nothing to say, but just kept his grasp on Carver's shoulders.

Carver felt a rush of blood as it molested him. To his horror, as much as he tried to keep his mind in check, his member started to swell at the demon's grasp which would not stop touching him. Soon there was a really obvious tent formed in his pants, poking the other man. Their bodies were still flush so it was difficult to see anything, but the tendrils were taking their time to feel up Isaac. They squirmed inside of his damaged suit, picking away some of the detached plates. Isaac made a sharp intake of air into Carver's ear. Carver felt the hardness of the other man's dick near his own, and the wetness of Isaac's blood. He was having trouble thinking straight, his own erection was aching. He nearly wanted to reach down and satisfy himself but the dark ribbons held his arms. Still, the demon kept forcing Carver forward, no matter how hard he resisted. Finally, he telepathically asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Impregnate him." 

The appendages of the black shadow clouded all around, there was nothing else here anymore. The deadly wind attrited the whole room clean off, joining the other fragments blowing around. The shadows enveloped both of them. The voice took a few seconds to even register. What it asked him to do - that was physiologically impossible. It was as absurd as everything else here. Carver felt trapped. Another arm of the shadow tore the front of his pants and shirt clean open, finally giving his strained erection some relief. 

Now, Isaac was a sight to behold. Remnants of his RIG still covered his arms and legs, but the middle plates and helmet were removed, and the clothes that should be covering his midsection were torn half to pieces. For someone that didn't speak at all and was spacing out only moments ago, the demon now had his full attention. His chest heaved with his hard breathing as the wound on his side bled openly, and sweat dripped down his collar. His fully erect dick was still being stroked by the shadow's appendage, twitching and leaking pre-cum. The demon still restrained his arms, leaving Isaac clearly unable to touch himself despite wanting to. Carver couldn't take his eyes away. He knew this was a fucked-up figment of his nightmares, contrived to get some kind of reaction out of him. He never considered himself to be interested in a man or Clarke or anyone anymore after all that's happened. But holy fuck, how vulnerable the other man looked. It was sick, but he couldn't control it anymore. Rather than help him he wanted to ravage the shit out of him.

Carver's hands were still restrained, but he thrust his body against Isaac, his dick moving up along the man's stomach, and the tendrils still stroking him. He was so aroused he almost couldn't breathe. It fit so nicely along Isaac's midsection, he took in the shape of the man's stomach, the indentation around his navel and that little gap just under his lower ribs. Isaac's flesh was wet for some reason and the demon's tendrils continued to stroke Carver. The sticky water leaking out of the demons soaked all of Isaac and made his chest hairs stick to him. It felt so warm and perfect. Carver thrust against him harder as if he was making love. Isaac's flesh was warm and smooth, and the tendril kept rubbing the skin on his dick back and forth, but never touching the head, so it felt impossible to come. He wanted to reach down and touch himself but his hands were still restrained. He went in close to Isaac's ear and wanted to kiss him, in the heat of the moment, but couldn't bring himself to.

The soldier felt himself helplessly sinking, deeper and deeper, into this world. Isaac wasn't fighting him at all, but still kept his grip on the man's shoulders. From the looks of it, he was enjoying himself, too. Isaac's member was fully engorged, jutting out between them, also being stroked by the demon. He was utterly pinned in place- if not by the demon, then by Carver- but did not seem to put up any resistance. From his heavy breathing Carver could tell he was close, but the demon wouldn't let him get all the way off. 

Something strange was happening. Carver really was sinking. He wasn't just moving his member along Isaac- he had somehow entered, physically penetrated him, as he blindly thrust against the other man's body. Carver couldn't tell what was happening, what the monster forced him to do. This was anatomically impossible, but it happened. Carver's dick felt warm, enveloped in flesh. Holy shit. There was nothing in the world like this. The warm rush of pleasure swept over him, and he felt weak in the knees. He felt muscles spasming around him. Isaac opened his mouth, maybe as if to scream, but no noise came out- he tightened the grip on Carver and just pulled him closer. Why couldn't either of them talk, here? It was fucked up, but Carver felt a sense of power, pushing himself into Isaac, over and over. He still felt Isaac's hardness pressing against his leg being molested by the demon, poking against him. 

He couldn't take anymore. With one more thrust downward he buried himself as deep inside of Isaac as possible, it felt as if he would split the helpless man in half. The physical sensation combined with the power trip took him over the edge. He stayed all the way inside as the semen started leaving his body. He held Isaac down and filled him up with his seed. Involuntarily he kept making small thrusts against him, riding it out. Fuck, Isaac. How could this be happening? He felt like he had marked Isaac- there was something of a possessiveness he couldn't explain. Isaac moved a grip on Carver's shoulders to the side of the other man's face. The engineer's wounds continued to bleed but he still did not seem to care. Carver looked down and still saw Isaac's dripping erection, still tormented by the demon. All the same, Carver was spent. Still unable to move his arms or much of his body, he collapsed on top of the other man. 

All of the come had stayed deep inside of Isaac. It moved around his insides, manipulated by the demon. Carver could even feel it beneath him, inside of the other man. The shade was using both of them. Isaac's midsection rose and fell with deep breaths. He could see- what was it? A bright light moving under the surface of his flesh. It can't be. The bright light from before. The shade was producing its *spawn* this way, using the two of them at its whims, using Carver's seed to implant on Isaac. They were tangled up in the shade and each other. There was no escaping this nightmare. The shade melted into an endless swarm of tiny vermin, that clouded around them and enveloped them. He couldn't move, he couldn't see or breathe. He didn't even know where they were any more. 

Carver awoke in a cold sweat. He wearily brought a hand up to wipe the sweat off his forehead. The room, and reality, materialized around him. Isaac was next to him, safe in his bed, and seemed to be asleep. 

What the fuck. It had been long enough that he kept seeing the constant hallucinations, but now all this had been haunting his nightmares too. Worse yet, now Isaac had cropped up in some weird sex thing. Please, he thought, just leave him out of this. 

He looked down, and saw his own raging erection. Great. He looked over. Hopefully, he hadn't been talking in his sleep, and woken his companion up with something that sounded really questionable. He couldn't tell whether Isaac was asleep or not; he was a quiet sleeper. Carver rolled over to his side and drifted back off, this time to dreamlessness.

The thing is, Isaac was awake. Now, the room was nothing but black and silence save for the blizzard railing on the facility walls like it did every night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isaac makes a difficult decision.

As the days went by, Isaac could feel his leg returning to full form, and he was finding ways to escape the monotony. In a place like this, it was a matter of looking hard enough. He read some of the old books stored away in the basement of the complex. He built a small robotic arm out of spare parts just because. He could go clean the dust and trash out of the AV room but fuck that. All the same, he could stand up and walk without assistance now. It wouldn't be long before the two of them could venture back out into the vast blizzard here and seek help. Maybe they could find a working radio- or, maybe he shouldn't even hope for it- a working escape ship. The planet was vast if anything, and once inhabited by humans, so there was some possibility. While he would never admit it, Isaac could almost miss the small sense of respite here. Unlike Carver, he wasn't one to charge headfirst into danger. Truly, he missed the safety of his nine-to-five job back on the Lunar Colony. He was sick of it all. Constantly being tossed from one suicide mission to another, risking life and limb for some organization that meant nothing to him. 

Still, he couldn't shake the memory of that night with Carver's sleep-talking. It was presumptuous to think Carver was fantasizing about him, but that's what it sounded like. And looked like. 

Isaac turned on the old, half-rusted faucet to get the water started. Everything about this place was old, the faucets and everything squeaked, handles came off drawers. Thank god the facility's water heater still worked. He bent down over the sink and looked in the uncracked portion of the mirror. He looked and felt so tired. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he really needed a shave. There were cuts on his face from the fight with the swarm which hadn't completely healed. Wow, this mission had him always looking like shit. It was the problem of being cooped up here, always being a pawn or an experiment for someone, never getting to return to a life of normalcy. The one thing he was grateful for, besides the facility, was having someone else here. Even if it was someone who acted like such a dick. In his heart he tried to convince himself he had moved on; moved on from his engagement, given up on Ellie and any chance of rescue from that team. There was no turning back now. He removed all of his clothes, still taking caution around his bandaged leg. 

The water was warm and steamy; he took out some soap and started with washing his face. It still hurt like a mother, having the water hit the wound on his leg, but he would put up with it until it was fully healed- it was better than risking infection. The water felt therapeutic and Isaac closed his eyes. It felt good to just think. He felt so weary under Earthgov's treatment, he sometimes let it get the better of him, causing so many spats between himself and Carver. He couldn't help but talk about the futility it all. Looking for an escape, or trying to contact the outside world. Every attempt Isaac made in the past had blown up in his face. He couldn't help but be negative about this sort of thing. But, it wasn't just that. Maybe it was petty, but he just felt empty without anyone in his life anymore. He had Nicole and it seemed like they were meant for one another, but she was no longer in this world. He and Ellie cared for each other, but that was all in the past now. He missed companionship, intimacy, he missed sex -just to be honest- and just having another human being to have as an outlet for it all. 

But now, there was Carver. As much as he tried to stop thinking about it, maybe there was more to that other night than he thought. What if, Carver had some weird feelings for him, and if so, why did it seem to matter? Isaac wanted to confront him, there was no right way. He needed to decide what he wanted. An admission, an explanation, an apology, or what? No, he already knew, for all his over-thinking, he wanted something, anything from him- to feel a closeness to someone else once again. That was it. Possibly to get laid. He had never been with a man and had a vague idea of what to expect from Carver, even in the ideal scenario where he doesn't get punched in the head. Here he saw this as an opportunity. He could put all his cards on the table. If he got rejection that was that. It didn't change anything, he or Carver could leave here and they were still just as well as doomed.

After finishing washing up, Isaac got out of the shower and towelled off. He wrapped up his leg again with a fresh bandage and got dressed, his hair still wet.

Carver was in the study, sitting on the couch, with a large array of gun parts splayed across the table. There was a desk nearby with some books and all the schematics. Usually he passed the time by exercising. He ran, did sit-ups, push-ups- including the one-handed kind, the whole thing. That was every day in the morning, though, and it was evening now. He was in the middle of modifying one of his guns, disassembling it for the umpteenth time. 

"Hey, whatcha doing."

"Modding my rifle. Again." Carver seemed unenthused. "Hey, have you ever used an electric bayonet?"

"Uh, I haven't." Isaac came out with it. "I need to ask you something." His tone was serious. There was no really right way to say what he was thinking, so he would go on and say it, and damn the consequences. "I've been thinking a lot lately." Carver gave him a sideways glance, still focusing his attention on what was in front of him. "We're locked down here on this goddamn frozen shithole planet, and probably for good. And I don't even know what to do with myself anymore. Nicole is dead, Ellie is gone. I just-" he tried to hold himself together. Once this started, it wouldn't stop. His hands moved from his eyes to massage his temples.

"Clarke, pull it together. It's not worth moping over now. If I hear about Nicole or- what was her name?"

"Ellie."

"El-leen? What was the name again?" Carver was being sarcastic, he had heard him mention and call out that name some hundred times. And yes, he had made this joke before.

"El- aw, fuck. Can you please just stop?" He sighed, should have seen that one coming. "There's just nothing. Nothing anymore. I-" Isaac was unable to just come out and say it. He was desperate and needed something. He missed human, physical contact. It was something so simple, so seemingly blissful now, something he took for granted so much in his former life on Earth. Here was nothing here but snow and ice and broken-down machines, so removed from civilization and anyone he ever loved. There was no hope of going back, either. He could not remember the last time that he saw Ellie or anyone else from Earth he knew. He didn't know how Carver stayed sane. If not for the operation he'd done on Isaac's leg, he could only assume he'd have the give-a-shit-about-other-people section of his brain was lobotomized or something. "I didn't get a chance to ask you this before, but a few days ago, you were, uh... saying things, in your sleep."

"What?"

"Things." Isaac emphasized the word without wanting to go into further detail. Carver dropped what he was doing and flushed, if that were even possible.

"I don't know what you're taking about, but I'd *recommend* that you forget the whole thing."

"What if I were to ask you something."

"Okay, what."

There was no turning back now. "What if we were to fuck. No strings. I don't care how. Take it or leave it." Isaac's tone was flat and frank. He first just stared into space, like he often did lately, choosing his words carefully, and then finally looked at him squarely. If Carver clocks him in the head, so be it. Nothing really mattered anymore. He was particular about the word 'fuck'. It didn't need to have any meaning to either of them. They didn't have to love or even like each other. He just needed something, anything. 

Carver paused for a minute to take in the information, and evaluate whether this was a serious offer. Holy fuck. Granted, he had not been expecting something like this. He shot Isaac a funny look, not knowing whether to take the proposal seriously.

This was going nowhere, he didn't need the other man's pity or sarcasm. It was funny, Carver was the type to let the situation go to his head. This kind of thing never happened very often for him - someone propositioning him for sex. In his days at the military college, sure, it happened. He was younger and fresher-looking; military guys like him were snatched up pretty quickly. But being a married man for so long, he practically forgot what that even was. Then after Damara had passed, he simply lost all interest.

"Fine, forget I asked." Isaac was about to turn around and leave, tired of all this bullshit. After laying so much on the line, asking point-blank for sex, the last thing he needed was for Carver to shove it all back in his face. Should have known it would go this way. He thought to himself, 'fuck all of this', and started away. 

"Wait." Carver grabbed Isaac roughly by the arm, preventing him from moving. "Okay."

"Okay- what?"

"Okay, let's fuck." Isaac just looked at him squarely, almost hesitant to believe this was all real and that he was serious. So far he had enough of the dumb shit. Carver no longer had that same sarcastic tone. Apparently it took a couple seconds for him to really internalize what was really being asked. If he could see himself from 7 years ago... Yeah, he'd never see himself agreeing to something like this. Admittedly, the loss of his wife, and his son had left him a mess with no desire at all for anyone. He knew what Isaac meant when he kept talking about loss, about the hopelessness of being on this frozen shithole. They were all alone here, cut off from everyone they ever really cared about, so what else mattered anyway. He had never been with a man before and assumed the same of Isaac. But it's just that it was an offer he couldn't refuse. The dream was about him, as fucked up as it was, and he couldn't get it out of his head.

It did happen, that Carver had the opportunity to have sex with men once before. In a couple of his assignments with the EDF, some of his men were found raping male prisoners of war. There were stories of crimes committed by the EDF against its prisoners after the last intergalactic war, but until then, none of them ever affected him. The EDF, much like EarthGov, had no shortage of corruption, atrocities and war crimes. When he discovered some of his own men were involved, rather than join them he fired them immediately. He never regretted doing that. Still he wondered what it was like, physically to be with- well he was married so long anyway so it didn't matter. All the ugly memories of that war changed his outlook on things, almost as much as what followed. It was an awful association, the best thing he could do was move forward. 

And even so he hadn't, in all reality, considered being with Isaac before. It was a recurring part of his fucked-up dreams, and that was it. Now that the idea was put in front of him, it was hard to resist. It was a plus for his ego, he wouldn't be able fuck anyone else anytime soon, or maybe ever - while this wasn't how he expected things to turn out, this was how it was going to be. 

"If this is what you want, then fine. I don't understand the things that pop up into your fucked-up head.. Okay. Yes, I had some weird dreams that I can't really explain. I'd prefer not to explain them." This was fine with Isaac. He didn't care. "If we're gonna do this, uh... I'm going to fuck you, not the other way around." The engineer was not surprised at all by this. He did say anything-no-strings, and Carver didn't seem like the type to have it some other way. "I don't really know what you're expecting. But, I hope that it's everything you could have dreamed of." There was more than a bit of sarcasm, as if Isaac didn't know what he was getting himself into. Yeah, maybe he shouldn't set his expectations too high for great sex. It honestly didn't matter, though. He just needed something, anything.

Isaac wordlessly stepped up to Carver and stood close. "So, uh, 'we doing this now?", Carver asked. Isaac didn't feel like talking anymore; he grabbed him by the back of the neck. The short hairs were felt spiky against his hand. He felt in his fingers that Carver was still wearing his dog tags. Isaac leaned in close and planted a long kiss on the side of his head. At first the kiss was tentative, then as Carver did not push him away, Isaac pressed hard into the kiss, and put his hands on the Sergeant's shoulders, drawing himself closer. Feeling Isaac's breath against his ear, the warmth and closeness of another human body after it being so long, was his time to finally internalize everything that was happening. Carver reflexively grabbed Isaac, roughly and a bit awkward at his shoulder blades. He kissed him back on the side of the head. Isaac's short beard hairs felt a bit weird, and bristled against him. Although, as Carver noticed, he trimmed it a bit, probably after showering. 'Aw, I'm his hot date', he thought to himself. Despite Isaac's normally disheveled appearance, he smelled nice, especially his hair. Isaac kept his grip on the back of Carver's neck and they looked into each other's eyes wordlessly. Carver's eyes were dark and heavy, staring into Isaac's tired blue ones. Then they leaned in and kissed each other on the mouth. 

The kiss quickly became hard and frantic, and Carver moved his hands down to Isaac's waist, pulling their bodies flush. Then Carver thought, 'to hell with it,' pushed his tongue inside Isaac's mouth. It was warm and felt better than he ever could have imagined. Before long Isaac's other hand wandered to the small of Carver's back, and he pushed his hips against the other man gently. Carver's hands ran all over the engineer, who had quickly forgotten about all the pain in his leg. His mind was just swimming and overcome with need. While he tongue-kissed the other man, he kept pushing his hips against him, involuntarily. Carver thoroughly felt up Isaac's ass, through his jeans, as he was instinctively used to doing with his other lovers. Isaac was breathing heavily, and quickly getting excited but trying to avoid touching himself so soon. Instead he held the other man closer and kept up the assault on his mouth. He slid a hand into Carver's pocket, sliding it down as far as it will go.

Carver looked down and was surprised to notice a tent forming in Clarke's pants already. Well shit, that didn't take long. The soldier appeased him by pushing his hips back against Issac's. Despite his tough exterior, Carver liked feeling wanted, so he liked the sight in front of him. Isaac's breath was becoming staggered and he was overcome with need. His confined erection was now bordering on physically painful. He put his hand on Carver's thigh and shoved his tongue deep into the other man's mouth. 

Carver was a bit taken back by this, but still kissed him back fully. Not wanting to be outdone, and being the stronger of the two, he roughly grabbed Isaac and shoved him against the wall making a loud thump. The forcefulness turned on Isaac even more, who tugged at Carver's jacket and T-shirt. Carver extracted himself from the EDF jacket and dropped it aside. Then Isaac helped him pull the shirt off over his head.

"Jesus Christ." So, Carver was more ripped than he thought. It was hard to tell underneath the RIG all the time. He had a hard, flat stomach, nice abs... 

"What?"

"Uh.. Nevermind. Yeah, maybe it's better if I leave my shirt on." he said jokingly.

Carver laughed. "Don't be dumb." He helped Clarke's shirt off and they pressed together again. Isaac wasn't built like him- being an engineer sitting in front of a computer 12 hours a day never did much for a person's physique. It didn't matter too much now; skin-on-skin contact, there was nothing like it. He lost track of how long it had been since he was with someone. Years. Isaac was anxious to at least loosen his pants. His erection kept straining against his jeans and was becoming physically painful. The engineer's hands fumbled as he unbuckled his belt and undid his fly. His erection was still tenting in his underwear, but this was much better and less confining than jeans. 

"Fuck..." 

"It looks like you're... into this." Carver looked down and tentatively ran a thumb over the head of Isaac's dick, feeling it through the fabric. His touch was hesitant and a bit too gentle. 

"No shit." Isaac he said through staggered breathing. Isaac pushed his hand out of the way and started stroking himself, unable to take it anymore, wrapping his other arm around Carver and keeping him close, messily kissing the side of his head and dipping his tongue in the other man's ear. He thrust his hips a bit involuntarily against Carver; his hard member kept poking at the other man's stomach.

"You wanna go through with this."

"Yeah." He looked down and saw Carver didn't get excited as quickly as him. He kept their bodies flush, brought his hand against the other man's dick underneath the pants and rubbed it without too much force, in case the texture of the fabric would feel too rough. Every so often he ran his hand a bit lower against his balls. With the continual teasing at him, he felt it swell and twitch a bit against the other man's touch. Then Isaac bent down and open-mouth kissed through the layers of fabric. Carver automatically responded by placing a hand on Isaac's neck, and thrusting gently against the other man's face. It seemed like Isaac might blow him, but instead the kiss teased, agonizing, at his dick through the jeans. Isaac could feel it harden up against his face. Isaac stood back up, trailing kisses on the Sergeant's left shoulder and the side of his neck and face. It was now clear that Carver's erection was getting uncomfortable, confined by the fabric and half-arranged toward one pant leg. Carver unzipped his fly to get some relief, and his member sprang right up in a really obvious tent in his underwear. Isaac slid the other man's underwear down a bit so that his cock sprang out. 

Issac reached into his pocket, took out his wallet and the protection. He always kept it in his wallet, just in case. Lord knows he never got a chance to use it practically ever, with his terrible luck being locked up on the Lunar Colony, cut off from normal life, and everyone he's ever loved caught up in some Necromorph disaster or another. And he never expected it to be using it here, like this... fuck everything. He gave it to Carver. 

The sergeant seemed a bit - it was hard to tell - nervous, for some reason? He was hard to read. "Turn around." Isaac pulled down his underwear and bent over the desk, flattening his torso against it. Carver put the protection on and positioned the tip of his dick against Isaac's entrance, unsure of how difficult this would be. He pressed it forward and moved it around to get the right positioning, then pushed forward with some amount of force, but it wouldn't go in. He tried it again from a slightly different angle, but to no avail. Never thought it would be this difficult.

Isaac looked back, turned halfway back around and muttered, "here", pulling off a small plastic tape on the protection. It secreted a slimy, clear, lubricating substance, there was so much that some dripped on the floor. Apparently this stuff had come a long way. He stroked it over Carver's dick. Admittedly, Carver didn't really know what he was doing and didn't know how to actually go about fucking someone in the ass, or how to use this kind of protection. He only had experience with women, in which case he didn't have this much difficulty sticking it in. As for this, he was just enjoying the ego trip so far and had not really considered the mechanics of everything. In any case, he immediately pushed Isaac's torso back onto the desk, holding him down by the back of the neck. He pushed the head of his dick back against Isaac and found penetration to be a lot more possible now. 

He pushed himself in. It still wasn't nearly as easy as he thought, but with some effort he slid himself in a bit ways. Some of the substance went into Isaac. It felt slimy and strange inside of him. Isaac felt himself being stretched, wincing and gripping the table.

Carver furrowed his brow and steadied himself, some sweat showing on his forehead. It was so, so much tighter than anything else he ever fucked. Maybe with some foreplay he could have loosened him up more and made this easier. Even with all the lube, it was a lot more difficult than he imagined. Isaac kept his head face down on the desk, preparing himself for the pain. With a few more forceful pushes, Carver fully sheathed himself, unable to resist doing any less, and felt his balls press against Isaac's perineum. Holy fuck, it was tighter than he could have ever imagined. He felt like he was splitting the other man apart.

"Are you okay?" Still, no answer. Isaac hung his head down, eyes half-closed, tightly wrapped up in his own thoughts. He adjusted to the sensation of the other man inside of him. When he decided to let Carver fuck him he had made a point of bracing himself for pain. Not anything that would tear his insides up, but certainly something that could hurt the next day. Despite everything he had been through before- near-death experiences, debilitating wounds, the thing that happened to his leg- even still, he was wary about how this would feel. Even though it was the kind of feeling he wanted all along, still, it hurt a lot. Through and through, it was a warm, new feeling; unexpectedly intimate, he wanted to feel more of it. He stayed focusing, occupied with his own thoughts. Carver lost patience, since so many moments had gone by, and shouted "ARE YOU OKAY?", and shook Isaac's shoulder. He brought his face down a bit to look at the other man, ensure he wasn't passed out or losing it again.

"Yeah." Isaac groaned a bit and made some incoherent noise. He adjusted his positioning a bit and gripped the desk. "Fuck, Carver...". The sergeant was a bit relieved and kept going. He withdrew a bit only to move fully back in. Because of the tightness, even this was difficult, but with each movement he felt Isaac relax a bit and the lube became more evenly distributed around everything and it made the friction easier. Isaac lost some of his hardness because of how difficult the penetration was, but was still semi-erect, his dick jutting out from under him. Going as slowly as possible Carver thrust in and out a few more times to get used to the sensation. His strong arms braced either side of Isaac and then he unnecessarily pinned the engineer's arms to the desk. Now they were both more used to it, he could pick up the pace and fuck him more deeply.

"Mm. Tell me..." he said in between thrusts, "What's my name?!" In any other situation, Isaac would have rolled his eyes. Carver grabbed the back of Isaac's head roughly, fingers raking in his short hair, and thrust himself in again. Holy shit, it was tight, but somehow he could still slide in and out. He wished to himself that Isaac would stop clamping down on him so much, or else he would come soon. The sensation was almost too much to handle. He had to consciously pace himself so he wouldn't come just right now. The desk rocked back and forth as he kept shoving himself into Isaac roughly, adjusting for a harder ride. Fuck, why hadn't he done this sooner? 

For Isaac, he had gotten used to the roughness of getting fucked by the younger man. His insides were aching, but thankfully nothing was bleeding or torn. So this is what it was like, face down on the desk, taking dick. He felt like he was going to be split in half. Still, it was everything- the warm breath on his neck, the hands on him, the hard member wedged inside of him- he wanted all of it and nothing else mattered. Carver nudged at his prostate every time, a weird kind of pleasure deep inside of him he didn't know was possible, like he was designed to be fucked this way. It felt like his whole body was falling apart. He spat into his hand, and started jerking himself off. It felt smooth and familiar, before long he was fully hard again and dripping pre-come onto the desk. 

Carver continued brutalizing him. He really enjoyed the sight of Isaac jerking himself off while getting fucked by him, and wondered if he could get all the way off this way, while he was literally just pounding into him like a ragdoll. He wanted a better view now that he was more comfortable. He pulled out of Issac. "How, uh, flexible are you?" 

"Dunno, why." Rather than explain, Carver started to maneuver Isaac over, face up on the desk, who knew what he was getting at. Carver pulled the other man's legs up, one around his waist and the other lifted up and draped over his shoulder. It was a bit awkward because despite the sergeant's more muscled form, they were around the same height, so it was hard to make the space for Isaac's legs. Still, it was comfortable enough and Carver easily shoved himself back in, since Isaac was already loosened up. He thrust in and out this way, and watched Isaac jerk himself off. Isaac's leg was only a little agitated by all of this, still protected by the bandage. It wasn't enough to bother him now. His dick was hard and red, and already dripping. Carver noticed Isaac didn't look directly at him, but at some undefined point out in space. He couldn't begin to image what was going on in that weird fucker's head. 

In reality, Isaac wasn't really thinking about anything, but it felt awkward to stare back at Carver, for his own private reasons. The staring during sex always felt intimate to him. They used to gaze at each other during... Oh, no. It's over. Best not to think about it anymore.

While Carver enjoyed the sight of Isaac face-up, holding up his legs and lower body was becoming a bit tiring after a while, and it was tiresome to do two things at once. He wrapped his arms around the engineer's torso and lifted him just a bit off the desk and brought them both onto the ground, still face-up. Isaac was in the same position as before, face-up with his legs pinned, but now the ground helped support him. Carver quickly slid back into him and lay a bit flatter on top of the other man, bringing their faces close enough together for a sloppy kiss, surprising Isaac a bit. In this position, Isaac was utterly pinned to the floor by Carver's arms, and it was easy for the other man to thrust in and out. There was still a dull ache from the penetration, laced with a kind of pleasure that was new to him, along with the sensation of stroking his own dick. Carver increased his speed, and it was easy to tell he was close- his breathing was staggered, and his body started to tremble. Isaac felt Carver's dick twitch inside of him. He told Isaac, "I'm gonna come... where do you want it."

"I don't care". 

"Really...?" There was a very small, perverted smile through gritted teeth.

"Yeah." Carver pulled out and pulled off the protection, and smeared some of the pre-come on his dick that had leaked inside. 

"Then look at me and open your mouth." Isaac sat up a bit and did just that. He saw where this was going. Carver stroked his dick a few times and it took nothing at all for him to come - fucking Isaac would have done it if he had not stopped himself. He brought his dick up to Isaac's face, just hovering over him, and ejaculated right there. One spurt after another, the seed went mostly in Isaac's mouth, bits on his face, stuck in his beard, and in his hair. "Now chew it around in your mouth a bit." Isaac did it. This kind of messed up. He grabbed the side of Isaac's face with one hand and brushed a thumb against his lip. Sure enough there was still come all over his tongue. "Okay, now swallow." Isaac gulped it down. Some more showed from between his lips, he licked his lips and swallowed that down too and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Wow." Carver couldn't believe what just happened in front of him. When Isaac said he'd do anything, he meant *anything*.

Isaac had just really moved past giving a fuck anymore and was still stuck in an arousal-induced haze, where nothing else mattered except sex. His whole body was overcome with need. In his own head he imagined a world where he could not touch himself, and would take anything he could get from Carver, sucking the man's dick everyday just for the opportunity to swallow more of his seed. Whenever he was this close to getting off, he would get tunnel-vision and become unable to think of anything except sex. Isaac looked down, and his member was swollen now the point of aching. The lube dripped out of him and he desperately missed having Carver inside of him, and fantasized about being fucked into the desk once more. He pushed Carver back so they were both laying on the floor, with Isaac on top of him. He held the sergeant to the floor, who did not put up a fight. 

Their bodies flush, Isaac kissed the man's mouth passionately and felt up Carver's whole body. Carver wrapped his arms around Isaac and kissed him back, winding one arm around the engineer's back and using other to grope his ass and the back of his thighs. He moved a finger to tease along his entrance but didn't actually put it in. Isaac broke away for a second to spit into his own hand, smear it over the head of his leaking dick, and jerk himself off. It took hardly anything to bring him over the edge. Looking down, Carver saw the head of Isaac's penis, pre-come leaking out of the slit, being worked through by a fist, aimed right toward him. Something about it made the sergeant nervous but he didn't say anything. Isaac trembled, sweat showing on his face, as he involuntarily dry-humped Carver's stomach while coming, wanting to ride it out for as long as possible. Screwing his eyes shut and throwing his head back he spilled his seed all over Carver. It went mostly on his chest, some on the man's face, which seemed to irk him, but it didn't matter to Isaac. He collapsed on the younger man, and they both laid there for a moment wordlessly.

Finally Carver pushed Isaac off, and Isaac had enough energy to separate himself. Cleaning themselves up, they put their clothes back on, unsure of what to say, unsure of who felt more used. Isaac didn't regret anything, although his insides ached and he walked a bit funny. After the arousal-induced haze had faded, they were both thinking a bit more clearly. Carver broke the silence.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You mean in general, or in this specific example?"

"Tell me why you're doing this. To me, and to yourself. You know what I mean. You don't like me, we are not a 'thing'. But there is something really fucked up about the way you... ugh, don't make me say it."

"What?" Carver couldn't put it into words. Isaac sighed, as if the explanation wouldn't help anything and there was no use talking about it now. "I just need something, anything. Being stuck here, it's as if I've lost everything. Being pent up alone for all this time, it's just too much."

"From the Ishimura?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"It's everything from then, until now. That, the forced experimentation, and now all this on Volantis. Everything's been taken away from me. That's what's going on."

Carver was undaunted. "So you've seen some shit. We all have."

"It's unbearable. This is all I can do to keep from going crazy." Saying it all out loud made it even more depressing.

"Wouldn't you say that ship's already sailed?" 

The same was true for both of them. Isaac got what he wanted, but he didn't know what it all meant. There really was something between them now, but he didn't understand it. He would go back to business as usual. Carver would go back to reassembling his gun, Isaac would go back to his robotics books, he wasn't in the mood to confront him any more. He would save it for some other day.

It wouldn't be long before they would venture back out into the blizzard. It could be as soon as tomorrow.


	4. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The walk home under the city lights.

The snow stretched out in a thick, endless plane. Isaac and Carver left together, Carver with his new bayonet weapon, abseiling equipment, and their RIGs in as good condition as they could get. Isaac knew their days in the shelter were numbered, and the only thing to do was to focus on moving forward. It didn't bother him anymore. It didn't matter their footprints were blown away in the fierce wind. Or the near-zero visibility due to the thick snow and foggy atmosphere. Wandering in a straight line was impossible, because of so many cliffs and uneven terrain. Still their agreement was to keep moving, no matter what, which helped cope with the cold. It couldn't just be snow forever.

Isaac saw something off in the distance. He asked if Carver saw it too, but didn't listen for a response. It was a light. Or something. The black light, like a star low in the sky grew up in the distance over the horizon, somehow parting all the snow and enveloped everything. The whole world changed. And then he wasn't on Volantis anymore; he was back on the Lunar Colony. Everything was strangely familiar right down to the last detail. 

Now it was somehow nighttime. The wind was chilly. He was downtown in the city, right next to the Earthrise apartment complex where he used to live. Yeah, everything was in a state of disrepair as always. Police sirens pealed off in the distance, people shouting, crickets chirping, if you listened hard enough. The city streets were dirty and awful. Isaac was in an alleyway he used to use as a shortcut home. The alley was illuminated only by neon signs from the seedy places around. Flickering street lights that were never replaced. Steam came out of the sewers. Off in the horizon he saw a sea of city lights punctuated with huge black factories. Old unmanned transport vehicles filtered through the streets further off. He continued along. There was the remains of a car crash that had been there as long as he had, which he simply had to walk around. 

Beside the tram station, and the water treatment facility. The cold air blew leaves and discarded paper in small spirals around the buildings nearby. While the city's air was rarely clean, tonight the night sky was clear. If he looked past the bright neon signs and power lines, he could see the stars for once. Isaac took respite in the fact that Volantis and the Markers was somewhere among them, a distant and irrelevant thing, somewhere very much far away. 

This time, for some inexplicable reason, he was together with Carver. He looked the same as always, too. Scarred face, military-issue clothes; like Isaac he was out of his RIG. He was just there, as if he was waiting for him. Isaac amiably went up to him; he wanted to ask why he was here, but no words came out. He was really glad Carver was here- he might get the brush-off, but fuck it. Before he knew it, they shared a tender kiss. It wasn't like before. This was something more pure, not tangled up in lust and everything else. The sergeant pushed him into the worn down brick wall and their bodies pressed together. His embrace felt so warm compared to the cool air around them. He felt nostalgic for some reason, like he was re-living something that had happened before, long ago.

The walk home took him through so much empty air, through the alley fading away, flaking away like sand back into the snow flurrying all around and back where he really was. The memory was just that. Not even a memory, but something in his own head. Someday, he wanted to bring John back with him. They could go to the Lunar Colony, or to Earth, or anywhere. It seemed impossible now. But if they were to leave this planet, everything would be different.

It was snow and wind all around. Instead of only the blizzard he saw something in the distance. This would be the last of his hallucinations about life returning to normal, if everything went according to plan. Isaac didn't want to think about it any more. Now, what mattered was far away, being snowed on in the grey horizon. He looked at Carver, not conveying anything using the COM. Carver already thought about the implications of the two of them leaving this planet. He wanted to confront Isaac but this was not the time. As backwards as it seemed, and as difficult as it was to believe, he saw a future for the two of them, although it was dangerous to think about it any more. They both looked ahead, knowing what it could mean but were too wary to say for sure. On the side of the structure, the text was partially visible: _CMS Terra Nova_. For the longest time, they walked toward the huge metal structure, closing the distance all the way.


End file.
